Entering his fourth NHL season, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are facing the pressure of needing to have a bounceback season after failing to make the playoffs in 2017-18. But there is one major difference this season that will impact Edmonton’s front office flexibility going forward: McDavid now counts for $12.5 million against the salary cap.
With two Art Ross Trophies, two Ted Lindsay Awards and a Hart Trophy, Oilers fans are now expecting the McDavid-led Oilers to take the step not just into the playoffs, but to become a consistent, yearly threat to win it all.
When the team finally got to the post-season in 2017 and won a round, it was seen as the first move back to relevancy after years of being stuck at or near the bottom of the NHL standings. But last year was a reminder that it’s not always going to be a steady climb up, and Edmonton fell well short of expectations. McDavid still had the best season of his career with 41 goals and 108 points in 82 games, but even he wasn’t able to escape some fans’ frustrations.
“It was awful. It was terrible. It was miserable around town,” McDavid told GQ about playing a losing season in Edmonton. “I remember everyone just chirping at you all the time. I was at dinner one time with my parents, and I was walking out and guys were chirping me. They’re passionate people and passionate fans. When you’re winning, you’re a hero in this city, and when you’re losing they want to run you right out of it. They’re just passionate, and you have to be able to understand that.”
The Oilers didn’t change much over the off-season, and in training camp it looks as though McDavid’s linemates will be the same ones he ended 2017-18 with: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ty Rattie. The trio seemed to click when put together towards the end of last season, which could help the Oilers get off to a better start than they did in 2017-18, when they won just three of their first 11 games.
A healthy McDavid will help, too. If you’ll recall, he played through a sickness that started in late-October last season, though still managed to be roughly a point-per-game player over this time. Compare that to his finish, when he scored 26 goals and 54 points in his last 33 games and you can see the much more significant impact McDavid can have on the Oilers’ fortunes.
“I don’t know what it was. I got really sick kind of early, in late October. It just kind of stuck with me,” McDavid told GQ. “I lost a bunch of weight. I didn’t miss any games, which was probably, in hindsight, what dragged it on the most. So I just tried to continue on with daily life, and that’s not what you’re supposed to do when you’re sick. So a lot of it is on me.”
Aside from hearing criticisms for his team missing the playoffs, McDavid has over the years faced ribbing from fellow NHLers for his appearance.
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Coming from the OHL, where he broke in as an underaged “exceptional player” and got used to wearing splash or track pants around with a baseball cap, he said the first bit of heckling he heard from others was about becoming more of a pro in the off-ice style department. And while you’ll never see McDavid try to rival P.K. Subban in this regard, he believes he’s made some positive strides.
“My style was not good. It’s definitely something that’s grown over time,” he told GQ. “When I got to the NHL, guys would make fun of me that I had the worst style in the league. I showed up for my first road trip and all the guys have these Gucci bags and these Louis Vuitton bags—you know, these sweet bags. And I showed up with my Erie Otters team bag, and (then-Oiler) Teddy Purcell was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing with that?’ Well, what do you mean, it’s my bag, what am I supposed to do? ‘Go out and buy yourself a nice bag.’
“Sure enough, had to go out and buy myself a nice Tumi bag. Next thing you know, they’re chirping my hair. ‘You gotta go get a nicer hair cut than that —
that’s awful.’ I think it’s a little bit better now, but I still have some work to do.”
In the full GQ interview, McDavid also discusses playing a level up through junior hockey, applying for and getting exceptional player status and growing out his hair for the new season. You can read it all here.
